John Rodgers, LANDSCAPE PAINTINGS 2016-2024; Ruskin Mill Gallery, Nailsworth, September 18-October 6
There’s but a bare five miles as the crow flies between the Ozleworth and Nailsworth Valleys: steep-sided both; meandering of stream, riven by age-old tracks.
Yet for landscape painter John Rodgers, every difference – large or small – speaks to him. “I sometimes think that, if I had painted in one small valley or area my whole life, I would have kept seeing more,” he said.
As he picks up his brush to capture a scene – a sinewy beech tree; a fallen ash – light ebbs and flows; rain falls; sun shines; birds roost and take flight. “I return to the same spot again and again, a precarious practice where I slowly try to arrive at something I consider has some of the spirit and authenticity of my experience of looking.”
The paintings in his latest exhibition – John Rodgers, Landscape Paintings 2016-2024 – at Ruskin Mill in Nailsworth, comprise landscapes made in the vicinity, Ozleworth and Nailsworth amongst them. And through them shines his particular connection to trees: “Kyffin Williams [the late Welsh landscape painter] said you have to be in love with the subject. There is much in that.”
For John, that love affair dates back to a childhood part-spent close to beech woods in the South Chilterns. “They retain such a strong memory for me. Luckily, beech trees – beautiful in this part of Gloucestershire – are here in abundance.”
Art was always part of John’s life. His father – himself inspired by the visionary Robin Tanner – encouraged him to paint outdoors. “I was using one of dad’s 1950s easels until recently, when it became so rickety I had to abandon it.”
John went on to study at the prestigious Slade School of Art, turning down a post-grad opportunity to take up a British Council award to live and work in Greece during the early 80s, before returning to England to teach.
“I have made many paintings in Greece: the light there is unbelievably spectacular. A bougainvillea viewed around a corner of a white alleyway can look electric!’ he says. ‘But I believe I am a very English painter: I enjoy painting in overcast light, which is the easiest to paint in.”
John’s many exhibitions include solo shows in locations as diverse as Oxford University’s Wolfson College; the Venetian Museum in Naxos; and Dyrham Park, the National Trust treasure, where proceeds helped raise funds for much-needed work on the roof.
In a world where scenes captured on mobiles seem to replace proper observation, John Rodgers believes the discipline and skills of artists are more vital than ever.
“As John Berger [critic and novelist] put it: the difference between what we know and what we see is never settled. Often, many will think painting is about technique. It is not about technique. It is about looking and responding and, in that process, interesting things can happen.”
John’s exhibition is at Ruskin Mill Gallery, Nailsworth GL6 0LA, entry free: rmt.org/events
